Theatre Company: Silo
Writer: Nina Raine
Director: Oliver Driver
Actors: Claire Chitham, Dean O’Gorman, Edwin Wright, Jodi Rimmer, Madeline Sami, Peter Elliot
Location: Herald Theatre

Synopsis (From Silo website):

Bella is living, working, drinking, and loving in the 21st Century. And damn it to hell, she’s turning 29. None of her closest friends really know each other, but that hasn’t stopped her from assembling this gang of bright young things out to dinner for a celebration. As the booze flows and the festivities spiral out of control, this occasionally rancourous quintet bait and bite one another in an uncivil war of the sexes. Central Perk this ain’t.

But even as she toasts the skirmishes of contemporary love, Bella can’t help but face up to the confronting relationship she has with the one man in her life who has ever meant anything to her.

Told with merciless wit and explosive attitude, this lacerating black comedy probes the nature of identity, the elusiveness of memory and the emotional minefield of becoming an adult.

Birthdays are battlefields.

Thoughts on this Production:

Thoroughly engrossing but ultimately unsatisfying. I found the interactions between the characters mesmerising ... all were strongly portrayed. However, the fact that the story didn’t allow for any transformation or growth meant that I left wondering what the point was.

Note: This was the first production for the Silo Theatre outside of it’s original theatre space. It was a promising start. There was enough of the intimacy and authenticity that have characterised the Silo of old. Although the “reconfiguration” of the Herald theatre was disappointingly minimal and the cramped , uncomfortable, steep seats remain.